Heavensward 3.0 Story Part 9: Ravana

Now it was time to face Ravana.

According to our plan, Ysa would transform into Shiva by using the Aethers stored all around the cave.

She drained the aetheric power and called forth the Lady

The fight started when the enromous primal powers hit each other.

I shivered slightly when I felt those enormous powers. I wasn’t sure what would happen. Could Shiva really do it alone? She seemed really shaken up by the whole dragon war which was going on outside.

Shiva attempted to freeze and then scatter the frozen body of Ravana.

Unfortunately, he broke free, stabbed Shiva and pushed her to the floor.

Her powerd fainted and she transformed back to Ysayle.

Now it was my turn to fight Ravana.

Of course, I wasn’t stupid enough to go alone like Ysa. I called forth 7 brave adventurers to join me – including Mag.

Ravana had invited us to a special arena just to make another great entrance <.<;

He kinda seemed a little smaller than before.

Had the fight with Shiva weakened him? ö.ö

That was our chance! We did our best but he kept using pretty awful techniques.

For one, he let us float in the air – completely helpless…

…just to attempt to slay us with his swords if we didn’t evade the attack fast enough mid-air like dancing puppets.

Ravana used lots of fancy looking sword attacks.

I’d love to be able to use similar attacks too ö.ö

Most of the fight wa spretty epic. Especially since I was able to heal through all of it and in the end, everyone was alive.

Except Ravana. Ravana disappeared into dusty stuff.

Ysa and me had a serious conversation about how you’re stronger when fighting with allies, espeically with friends and loved ones. She kinda understood what I was talking about and seemed to appreciate my company a little more.

We had beaten Ravana and left the Gnaths without a leader – at least until they had gathered enough Aether to resummon him. But the dragons didn’t have to know that yet.

Nevertheless I had a bad feeling.

Heavensward 3.0 Story Part 8: Gnatastrophe in the Dravarian Forelands

As Ysa had agreed to join us – she wanted the same as us: peace between dragons and humans – we left the icy Coerthas Highlands and traveled to the Dravarian Forelands.

Giant trees were growing there. The roots had the perfect sized for Lalafell appartements! ö.ö

We met with some local dude in a town called Failfeather. He gave us some hints about where the dragons were currently located.

Please have a look at Estinien in above picture. He’s like.. becoming one with the wall! o.o;;;

Turns out, Ysa grew up in that town for some time! O.O;;

Anyway, Alphi hesitated again. Gawd. I told him, we’d find out the truth eventually and with that, we could start an actual attempts in restoring peace with the dragons.

But first, I had to secure the old ruins of a place called Dusk Vigil. It was an old stronghold originally used to protect Coerthas from any evasion from the Dravarian lands.

Now it was full of monsters, animals and zombies!

The boss of that place was an angry Gryphon.

His hobby was smashing statues and he was angry that the statues didn’t grow back their heads. So he was looking for other prey…

After slapping the Gryphon real hard, he gave up on that place and flew away.

Then, we finally went to meet actual smart dragons. Or so I thought.

We talked to their gatekeeper. He wouldn’t let us pass.

For sure he did not believe that we wanted peace when Estinien was carrying Nidhogg’s eye…

The gatekeeper sent us on a journey: If we helped the dragons enough, they would allow our presence in their home for more than a day. Otherwise, they’d eat us alive.

Alright!

First thing I discovered was a suspicious looking statue. it looked like a giant… Chocobo flute?

When I tried it out, no tune came out of it. 10 seconds later, a Porter Chocobo landed next to me, waiting for me to hop on! o.o; How handy!

I didn’t need that service yet but it might come in handy at some point.

To progress with the dragon conflict, I asked around if anything had been troubling the dragons.

Turns out, the Gnaths were always an unwelcomed thorn in the territory of the dragons. But the dragons didn’t invade or slay them because the Gnaths had the protection of a Primal!

Why does every beastmen tribe have a goddamn primal? <.<

We gathered some information blabla, a few hours later, we met with a group of Gnaths that seemed different.

They took us to their small camp outside of the hive of the other Gnaths.

These Gnaths were dropout who were not connected to the others through their minds. Within a Hive, they all counted as one big collective. If you were unable to connect to the Great One’s thoughts and commands, you were cast out to die. Just that they didn’t die but rather started having their own thoughts, beliefs and their own little community.

We had bribed them with delicious food and now they would invite Adventurers to their home in order to get more food offerings. Quite smart.

Anyway, they helped us come up with a plan to infiltrate the hive and to confront their Primal.

Ysa and me were to walk into the hive, get captured and lead to their Boss.

It all worked according to our plan.

We were brought into a big underground cave.

Suddenly, swords emerged of a giant flame explosion!

And then, IT emerged.

It was Ravana, the bug primal and boss of the Gnaths.

Ysa and me only needed to defeat him to free the Gnaths and to show the dragons that we were indeed really useful to them. Then, we could negotiate a peace contract with the dragons. Eorzea would be safe again. Yay! Easy plan.

Of course, it didn’t turn out as planned.

Heavensward 3.0 Story Part 7: Iceheart’s story

It was time to return to the House Foretemps.

Alphinaud started doubting himself again. He kinda felt like we shouldn’t stay in Ishgard.

I was like “WTF dude, you can’t just bail on all the people who helped you INCLUDING ME!”

I finally convinced him and we went to see Aymeric.

On a side note, I was kinda curious if he was openly admitting his relationship with Rhaqui by now, or not. Rha had told me stories about their struggles and Aymeric being quite shy and also very busy with his work…

Anyway, Aymeric didn’t lose a word about Rhaqui. :\ Maybe I need to talk to him in private without the guys and make sure, he’s treating Rha alright!

Back at the manor, Tataru got really excited.

She had crafted new clothes for Alphinaud! ö.ö

He looked quite mature and pretty cool in those.

Where were my clothes?

Tataru assumed, I would get new clothes on my own. :\ I really want her to make me a nice outfit ;_;

Anyway, Alphi dragged me out in order to find a way of contacting Ysayle, Lady Iceheart, the person harboring the promal Shiva.

First place to look was the Amphitheatre.

No sign of Shiva. Only some Hereitcs showed up in a fight-lusty attitude.

They transformed into beasts while fighting! Something was clearly wrong with those and their cult was clearly shady.

Needless to say, we slayed them down. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. If they only had been slightly more useful.

Instead, we checked with the local guards in Coerthas as reports of Heretic sightings had reached our ears.

We found out that a signal fire needed to be used to call Ysa.

She actually came!

“We would like to speak to you about stopping Nidhogg’s attack on Ishgard.”, I said.

Estinien was carrying one of Nidhogg’s eyes. With this power and Ysayle’s support, we might be able to convince Nidhogg to spare Ishgard.

It was then, when Ysa told us a story about Shiva.

Shiva lived in Ishgard, side by side with the dragons, in peace and harmony. She formed a bond with the dragons, especially with one called Hraesvelgr. They became lovers. But more in a spiritual way than in a physical one <.<;

But dragons live longer than humans and they would be separated by her death eventually.

They found a simple solution: He would eat her so their sould would be united or something.

Hraesvelgr was alone nevertheless and Shiva’s voice would not speak to him anymore. He was super lonely for decades!

I had to help the dragons. Somehow, I had the feeling that the injustice and tragedies they had experienced were forcing them to attack Ishgard nowadays. Dragons were intelligent beings. They were way wiser than any of us. But as they lived so long, they would never forget any injustice done to them. There had to be more to this whole story.

Suddenly, my heart ached!

I found myself back in the realm of the Mothercrystal.

The depleted crystals gathered around my. The seal of the Warrior of Light had been destroyed, but…

A ray of light emerged from my soul, letting one of the crystals shine again.

Was this a hint that I was on the right way to save Eorzea again? Would I sson be able to light all the other crystals and banish the Ascians once and for all?

Sightseeing Log: Nearly finished one, get offered an expansion!

At some point, I had to continue my Sightseeing log. More than half of it was done, but I was still far from finishing it. The little Apkallu was waiting for me to finish it so Jonas would allow me to adopt it. <.<;

So I jumped on gates!

I climbed on trees!

I climbed on old ruins.

And I climbed on the highest poles!

I sneaked around some sinister places…

And then, suddenly, after having 52 of them done, some random Explorer EXPANDS MY SIGHTSEEING LOG!

Like I didn’t already have enough to do. <.<;

By chance, I found one spot in Coerthas: On the top of a dragon skeleton.

I must admit, that felt really epic.

It was like: Look everyone! I slayed this badass…. 10 years ago when I was like 5 years old! ò.óV

 

Heavensward Aether Currents

I’ve been evading blog posts about the Heavensward storyline because everyone has done it and those who haven’t don’t wanna read spoilers usually… <.<; But at some point, they will come and it will be boring for some. I will make it as exciting as possible!

But for now, I’d like to share some Aether Current pictures!

Attuning to all currents allows your mounts to fly in that area. Finding all of them is hell.

Of course I have tried to find them all on my own in Coerthas but once that was finished, I gave up in the next area while following Alphinaud. I never knew which quests the Currenty were hidden behind or couldn’t figure out the locations of some. So I “cheated” and looked it up here.

On that journey, I discovered many beautiful areas an places.

Usually, you don’t take much time to stop and look around. The Currents force you to do so – at least for some seconds. That’s when you see the Dhalmel – the cousins of Elezen. I was excited to meet these lovely fellows. I’m sure Lyssa, Emp and all other Elezen feel really at home when near their long-necked cousins.

Aether Currents can be found at houses covered by snow.

Or in old ruins inhabited by Moogles!

Even in the most unexpected areas full of destroyed ground and wall parts that fly around!

Sometimes, I get mezmerized by the beautiful crystals, glowing trees and mysterious light during nighttimes.

There was even a Current in a giant Cooking pot. According to rumors, the local monsters like to capture Lalafell and cook them in there. Unfortunately, it was blocked by the Current until I came to remove it…. Bad move, Riiko. <_<

Obviously, there were “slightly” more Currents. I don’t want to bore you. Most pictures aren’t that impressive, really. <.<; Some are at boring locations. Who wants to see that?